Treat Myself is the third major-label studio album by American singer-
songwriter Meghan Trainor (pictured). Epic Records released it on
January 31, 2020, after delaying it for over a year while Trainor wrote
more songs. She worked with producers including Mike Sabath and Tyler
Johnson, and featured artists including Nicki Minaj and the Pussycat
Dolls. The album is a pop, doo-wop, funk, and R&B; album, with themes
such as female duality, body image, self-esteem issues, and
relationships. Trainor promoted it with public appearances and televised
performances. Treat Myself includes the singles "No Excuses", "Wave",
and "Nice to Meet Ya". Some reviewers thought the album effectively
showcased Trainor's artistic range; others criticized its production
choices and lyrical themes. It debuted at number 25 on the US
Billboard 200 and peaked within the top 40 in Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, Scotland, Spain, and Switzerland. (This article is part of a
featured topic: Meghan Trainor albums.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Meghan_Trainor_albu…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1919:
Intense rioting over labour conditions broke out in Glasgow,
Scotland, quelled only when the British government sent tanks to restore
order.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_George_Square>
1997:
Final Fantasy VII, the first video game in the Final Fantasy
franchise to use 3-D computer graphics, was released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII>
2007:
Emergency officials in Boston mistakenly identified LED
placards depicting characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force as IEDs,
causing a panic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
truant:
1. An idle or lazy person; an idler.
2. (specifically) A student who is absent from school without
permission; hence (figurative), a person who shirks or wanders from
business or duty.
3. (obsolete) Synonym of sturdy beggar (“a person who was fit and able
to work, but lived as a beggar or vagrant instead”); hence, a worthless
person; a rogue, a scoundrel.
4. Shirking or wandering from business or duty; straying; hence, idle;
loitering.
5. (specifically) Of a student: absent from school without permission.
6. (obsolete) Having no real substance; unimportant, vain, worthless.
7. (intransitive) Also used with the impersonal pronoun it (dated): to
shirk or wander from business or duty; (specifically) of a student: to
be absent from school without permission; to play truant.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To idle away or waste (time).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/truant>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It's a misperception of me that I am a wild man — I wish I
still were. I'm 68 years old. The rage now is, oh, so deep it's almost
comfortable. It has even approached the point where I can live with it
philosophically. The world's not what I want it to be. But then no one
ever said I had the right to design the world.
--Norman Mailer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norman_Mailer>
Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the Egyptian language from
Ancient Egypt's pharaonic period until the end of Roman domination.
Along with Sumerian literature, it is considered the world's earliest
literature. Writing in Ancient Egypt (sample pictured) first appeared in
the late 4th millennium BC. By the Old Kingdom, literary works included
funerary texts, epistles and letters, religious hymns and poems, and
commemorative autobiographical texts. Middle Egyptian, the spoken
language of the Middle Kingdom, became a classical language preserving a
narrative Egyptian literature during the New Kingdom, when Late Egyptian
first appeared in writing. Scribes of the New Kingdom canonized and
copied many literary texts written in Middle Egyptian, which remained
the language used for oral readings of sacred hieroglyphic texts.
Ancient Egyptian literature has been preserved on papyrus scrolls and
packets, limestone and ceramic ostraca, wooden writing boards,
monumental stone edifices, and coffins.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_literature>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1661:
Two years after his death, Oliver Cromwell's remains were
exhumed for a posthumous execution and his head was placed on a spike
above Westminster Hall in London, where it remained until 1685.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell%27s_head>
1945:
World War II: Allied forces liberated more than 500 prisoners
of war from a Japanese POW camp near Cabanatuan in the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_at_Cabanatuan>
2020:
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic to
be a public health emergency of international concern.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
softnose:
1. (firearms) Of a bullet: lacking a jacketed nose and thereby deforming
greatly on impact, causing a large amount of damage and imparting a
great deal of momentum to the target; soft-nosed.
2. (firearms, countable) A bullet of this kind; (uncountable) bullets of
this kind collectively.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/softnose>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I wish I could keep war from all Nations; but that is beyond my
power. I can at least make certain that no act of the United States
helps to produce or to promote war. I can at least make clear that the
conscience of America revolts against war and that any Nation which
provokes war forfeits the sympathy of the people of the United States.
--Franklin D. Roosevelt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt>
Angel Reese (born 2002) is an American college basketball player for the
Louisiana State University Tigers (LSU) of the Southeastern Conference
(SEC). At Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore, Maryland, she was ranked
the number two player nationally in the class of 2020 by ESPN. Reese
joined the Maryland Terrapins as the highest-ranked recruit in program
history, and was named a third-team All-American by the Associated Press
as a sophomore. In her junior season, Reese transferred to LSU and was a
unanimous first-team All-American selection. She led LSU to its first
national championship, where she was Most Outstanding Player. Reese set
the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) single-season record
in double-doubles and the SEC single-season record in rebounds. At the
international level, Reese helped the United States win a silver medal
at the 2023 FIBA Women's AmeriCup. She is estimated to be one of the top
earners among college athletes from name, image and likeness deals.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Reese>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1967:
The Mantra-Rock Dance (poster pictured), called the "ultimate
high" of the hippie era, took place in San Francisco, featuring Swami
Bhaktivedanta, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantra-Rock_Dance>
1991:
The first major ground engagement of the Gulf War began with
the Iraqi invasion of Khafji, Saudi Arabia, recaptured three days later
by Coalition forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khafji>
2013:
Twenty-one people died when SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashed
near Almaty, Kazakhstan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCAT_Airlines_Flight_760>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
beauty sleep:
1. (uncountable) Originally, sleep taken before midnight, on the belief
that early sleep hours conduce to beauty and health; now (chiefly
humorous), sleep at any time needed by one to stay beautiful;
(countable) an instance of such sleep.
2. (uncountable, chiefly humorous) Extra sleep; also (generally), any
sleep; (countable) an instance of this; an extra nap.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beauty_sleep>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Despicable means used to achieve laudable goals render the goals
themselves despicable.
--Anton Chekhov
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov>
Nicholas Hoult (born 1989) is an English actor. He has performed in
supporting roles in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles
in independent projects in the American and British film industries. He
made his screen debut at the age of six in the 1996 film Intimate
Relations. In 2002 he portrayed Marcus Brewer in the comedy-drama film
About a Boy, for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie
Award for Best Young Performer. He played Tony Stonem in the E4 teenage
drama series Skins (2007–2008), and earned a BAFTA Rising Star Award
nomination for the 2009 drama film A Single Man. Cast as the mutant Hank
McCoy in Matthew Vaughn's 2011 superhero film X-Men: First Class, he
continued the role in later instalments of the series. In 2013, Hoult
starred as a zombie in the romantic comedy Warm Bodies. He played Robert
Harley, Earl of Oxford, in the historical black comedy The Favourite
(2018) and the writer J. R. R. Tolkien in Tolkien (2019).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Hoult>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1754:
The word serendipity, derived from the Persian fairy tale The
Three Princes of Serendip, was coined by Horace Walpole in a letter to a
friend.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Walpole>
1933:
Choudhry Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet in which he called for
the creation of a Muslim state in north-western India that he termed
"Pakstan".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_Declaration>
1964:
Three U.S. Air Force pilots aboard an unarmed T-39 Sabreliner
were killed when the aircraft was shot down over Erfurt, East Germany,
by a Soviet MiG-19.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_T-39_shootdown_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
presumptive:
1. Based on presumption or conjecture; inferred, likely, presumed.
2. Often postpositive, as in heir presumptive: of an heir or heiress:
presumed to be entitled to inherit unless someone with a superior
entitlement is born.
3. (embryology) Of a cell or tissue: which has yet to differentiate, but
is presumed to develop into a particular body part.
4. Synonym of presumptuous (“making unwarranted presumptions or
assumptions, often out of arrogance or excessive self-confidence, and
thus exceeding what is appropriate or right”)
5. (often law) Chiefly in presumptive evidence: providing a reasonable
basis for a certain presumption or conclusion to be drawn.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/presumptive>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is necessary to make virtue fashionable.
--José Martí
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mart%C3%AD>
The Civil Service Rifles War Memorial is a First World War memorial
located at Somerset House in London, England. Designed by Sir Edwin
Lutyens and unveiled by Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1924, the memorial
commemorates the 1,240 members of the Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service
Rifles regiment killed in the war. The memorial takes the form of a
rectangular column surmounted by a sculpture of an urn and flanked by
painted stone flags, a feature seen in other memorials by Lutyens. A
scroll of the names of the fallen was placed inside the memorial. Those
who served in the regiment were Territorial Force reservists, drawn
largely from the British Civil Service with many staff based in Somerset
House. The memorial was initially located in the quadrangle, which had
been used by the regiment as a parade ground. It was later moved to the
riverside terrace and rededicated in 2002. Upgraded to Grade II*
listed-building status in 2015, it forms part of a national collection
of war memorials by Lutyens.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Service_Rifles_War_Memorial>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1919:
Yugoslavian troops shot at protesters advocating for the
incorporation of Maribor into the Republic of German-Austria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg%27s_Bloody_Sunday>
1996:
Mahamane Ousmane, the first democratically elected president of
Niger, was deposed by Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara in a military
coup d'état.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahamane_Ousmane>
2011:
Astronomers documented H1504+65, a white dwarf in Ursa Minor
with the hottest surface temperature known at the time, at 200,000
kelvins (360,000 °F).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Minor>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
peashooter:
1. A toy weapon consisting of a tube through which dried peas or small
objects are blown.
2. A person who uses such a device.
3. (slang) Any small or ineffective gun or weapon.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peashooter>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
"It was much pleasanter at home," thought poor Alice, "when one
wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by
mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole —
and yet — and yet — it's rather curious, you know, this sort of
life! I do wonder what can have happened to me! When I used to read
fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I
am in the middle of one!"
--Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland>
W. Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an
English writer. He achieved national celebrity as a playwright; by 1908
he had four plays running simultaneously in London's West End. After
1933 he concentrated on novels and short stories. His popularity
provoked adverse reactions from highbrow critics, and many belittled him
as merely competent. More recent assessments generally rank Of Human
Bondage as a masterpiece, and his short stories are held in high
critical regard. Maugham's plain prose became known for its lucidity,
but his reliance on clichés attracted adverse critical commentary.
During World War I Maugham worked for the British Secret Service, later
drawing on his experiences for stories published in the 1920s. He
married Syrie Wellcome in 1917, and they had a daughter, Liza. However,
his principal partner was Gerald Haxton; after Haxton's death, Alan
Searle became Maugham's secretary and companion. Maugham gave up writing
novels after World War II and died in 1965.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1944:
Representatives of the Chetnik movement began a four-day
congress to organise political opposition to the Allied support of the
communist-led Yugoslav Partisans in Yugoslavia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba_Congress>
1971:
Idi Amin seized power from Ugandan president Milton Obote in a
coup d'état, beginning eight years of military rule.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Ugandan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
1993:
Pakistani national Mir Aimal Kansi shot five people outside the
Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia, killing
two.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_headquarters_shooting>
2011:
The Egyptian revolution began with protests (protester
pictured) on the "Day of Anger", eventually leading to the removal of
President Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years of rule.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Egyptian_revolution_of_2011>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
epistle:
1. A literary composition in the form of a letter or series of letters,
especially one in verse.
2. (chiefly literary or humorous) A letter, especially one which is
formal or issued publicly.
3. (specifically, historical) Chiefly with a qualifying word, as in
epistle dedicatory: a letter of dedication addressed to a patron or
reader published as a preface to a literary work.
4. (Christianity)
5. One of the books of the New Testament which was originally a letter
issued by an apostle to an individual or a community.
6. An extract from a New Testament epistle (sense 3.1) or book other
than a gospel which is read during a church service, chiefly the
Eucharist.
7. (transitive)
8. (chiefly literary or humorous) To write (something) in, or in the
form of, a letter.
9. (chiefly literary or humorous, archaic) To write a letter to
(someone).
10. (rare) To write (something) as an introduction or preface to a
literary work; also, to provide (a literary work) with an introduction
or preface.
11. (intransitive, chiefly literary or humorous)
12. To write a letter.
13. To communicate with someone through a letter.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/epistle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What mean and cruel things men can do for the love of God.
--W. Somerset Maugham
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham>
Fluorine is an extremely reactive chemical element with atomic number 9.
At standard conditions, pure fluorine is a toxic pale yellow diatomic
gas. Fluorite, the element's primary mineral source, was first described
in 1529, and fluorine was proposed as an element in 1810. As the
lightest halogen and most electronegative reactive element, it is
difficult to separate from its compounds, and several early
experimenters died or were injured in the attempt. French chemist Henri
Moissan finally succeeded in 1886 using low-temperature electrolysis, a
process still used today. Global fluorochemical sales amount to more
than US$15 billion a year, including in toothpaste and water
fluoridation, refrigerants, Teflon for electrical insulation and
cookware, pharmaceuticals, aluminium refining and steelmaking.
Fluorocarbon gases are generally greenhouse gases. Fluorine has no known
metabolic role in mammals, but a few plants and sea sponges synthesize
poisonous fluorocarbons to deter predators.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorine>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1536:
King Henry VIII of England suffered a serious accident while
jousting, receiving injuries which may have caused his later obesity and
erratic personality.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII>
1848:
James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma,
California, leading to the California gold rush.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gold_rush>
1972:
Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi was found in the jungles of
Guam, where he had been hiding since the end of World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoichi_Yokoi>
1977:
During the Spanish transition to democracy, neo-fascists
attacked an office in Madrid, killing five people and injuring four
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Atocha_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
rhombicosidodecahedron:
(geometry) An Archimedean solid with 62 regular faces (20 triangles, 30
squares, and 12 pentagons), 60 vertices and 120 edges.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rhombicosidodecahedron>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If you don’t want to be replaced by a machine, don’t try to
act like one!
--Arno Allan Penzias
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arno_Allan_Penzias>
Nyctibatrachus major, the Malabar night frog, is a species in the robust
frog family. First described in 1882 by George Albert Boulenger, it is a
large Nyctibatrachus frog, with an adult snout–vent length of
31.5–52.0 mm (1.24–2.05 in) for males and 43.7–54.2 mm
(1.72–2.13 in) for females. It is mainly brownish to greyish in
colour, with a greyish-white underside, light grey sides, and grey or
brown markings. Sexes can be told apart by the bulbous glands near the
inner thigh in males. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats
mountain range of India, in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Adults
are nocturnal and inhabit fast-moving forest streams at elevations of up
to 900 m (3,000 ft). The diet mainly consists of other frogs and
insect larvae. On hatching, tadpoles drop from leaves or rocks into a
water source. The species is vulnerable: threats include habitat loss,
increased human presence, and possibly nitrate pollution caused by
fertiliser overuse.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyctibatrachus_major>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
Bishop John Carroll purchased a plot of land that would become
the home of the future Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic
university in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University>
1902:
In the most fatal recorded mountaineering accident, 199 of the
210 members of an Imperial Japanese Army unit perished in a blizzard on
the Hakkōda Mountains.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakk%C5%8Dda_Mountains>
1957:
American inventor Fred Morrison sold the rights to his "flying
disc" to the Wham-O toy company, who later renamed it the "Frisbee"
(example pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisbee>
2001:
Five people attempted to set themselves on fire in Tiananmen
Square, Beijing, an act that many later claimed to have been staged by
the Chinese Communist Party to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their
persecution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_self-immolation_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
coincident:
1. Of two or more objects: being in the same location.
2. Of two or more events: occurring at the same time; contemporaneous.
3. Of two or more things: having the same qualities; being in
accordance; consonant, matching.
4. (obsolete) Chiefly followed by to: accompanying, concomitant,
incident.
5. (obsolete) One of multiple incidents or things which coincide with
each other; a concomitant.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coincident>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Despise the glare of wealth. That people who pay greater respect
to a wealthy villain than to an honest, upright man in poverty, almost
deserve to be enslaved; they plainly show that wealth, however it may be
acquired, is, in their esteem, to be preferred to virtue.
--John Hancock
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Hancock>
Edward Oxford (1822–1900) was an English man who made an assassination
attempt on Queen Victoria in 1840. After losing a series of jobs in pubs
due to erratic and violent behaviour, he bought two pistols and fired
twice at the queen and her husband, Prince Albert; neither shot hit
anyone. Charged with high treason, he was found by a jury to be not
guilty by reason of insanity, and was detained at Bethlem Royal Hospital
and Broadmoor Hospital. Offered exile in 1867, he settled in Melbourne,
Australia, under a new name. He worked as a decorator, married and
became a respected figure at his local church. He began writing stories
for The Argus on the seedier aspects of Melbourne, and later published a
book, Lights and Shadows of Melbourne Life. Oxford's trial and the 1843
trial of Daniel M'Naghten, who killed civil servant Edward Drummond,
prompted the judiciary to frame the M'Naghten rules on instructions to
be given to a jury for a defence of insanity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Oxford>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1924:
Ramsay MacDonald took office as the first prime minister of the
United Kingdom from the Labour Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsay_MacDonald>
1943:
World War II: The Battle of Buna–Gona on New Guinea ended
with an Allied victory after two months of difficult fighting against
well-prepared Japanese defence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buna%E2%80%93Gona>
1968:
Apollo 5, the first flight of NASA's Lunar Module, lifted off
from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_5>
1979:
Uganda–Tanzania War: After surrounding Mutukula the previous
day, Tanzanian forces attacked the town in the Battle of Mutukula and
caused Ugandan forces to flee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mutukula>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
poetic justice:
1. (narratology) Synonym of poetical justice (“the idea that in a
literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice
punished”)
2. (by extension, generally) The fact of someone experiencing what they
deserve for their actions, especially when this happens in an ironic
manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/poetic_justice>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. And certainly
there is a great difference, between a cunning man, and a wise man; not
only in point of honesty, but in point of ability. There be, that can
pack the cards, and yet cannot play well; so there are some that are
good in canvasses and factions, that are otherwise weak men.
--Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Essays_%28Francis_Bacon%29>
"Never Forget You" is a song recorded by American singer Mariah Carey
(pictured) for her third studio album Music Box. Carey co-wrote the slow
jam with Babyface and the pair produced it with Daryl Simmons. Columbia
Records released the song on January 21, 1994, as the B-side to "Without
You" and promoted it to American urban contemporary radio stations as
the album's fourth single. The lyrics lament the end of a romance.
Strings, synthesizers, and percussion characterize the composition;
Jermaine Dupri altered them for remixes. Music critics deemed "Never
Forget You" unremarkable and derivative. The song peaked at numbers one
and three on the US urban contemporary radio charts published by Radio &
Records and the Gavin Report, respectively. It also reached number three
on the Billboard Hot 100 and number seven on the Billboard Hot R&B;
Singles chart. Combined with "Without You", the single sold 600,000
copies in the US throughout 1994.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Forget_You_%28Mariah_Carey_song%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1919:
The First Dáil convened at the Mansion House in Dublin and
adopted a declaration of independence calling for the establishment of
the Irish Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_D%C3%A1il>
1968:
A B-52 bomber carrying four nuclear weapons crashed onto sea
ice near Thule Air Base, Greenland, causing localized radioactive
contamination.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash>
1997:
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 395–28 to reprimand
Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the
House to be so disciplined.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich>
2011:
Demonstrations in Tirana against alleged corruption in the
Albanian government led to the killings of four protesters by the
Republican Guard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Albanian_opposition_demonstrations>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
carp:
1. (intransitive)
2. To complain or criticize about a fault, especially for frivolous or
petty reasons; to cavil.
3. (obsolete) To speak, to talk; also, to talk about a subject in speech
or writing.
4. (obsolete) To talk much but to little purpose; to chatter, to
prattle.
5. (obsolete) Of a bird: to sing; of a person (such as a minstrel): to
sing or recite.
6. (transitive, obsolete)
7. To say or tell (something).
8. To find fault with (someone or something); to censure, to criticize.
9. An instance of, or speech, complaining or criticizing about a fault,
especially for frivolous or petty reasons; a cavil. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/carp>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Who would imagine that the Deity conducts his providence similar
to the detestable despots of this world? Oh horrible, most horrible
impeachment of Divine Goodness! Rather let us exaltedly suppose that God
eternally had the ultimate best good of beings generally and
individually in his view, with the reward of the virtuous and the
punishment of the vicious, and that no other punishment will ever be
inflicted, merely by the divine administration, but that will finally
terminate in the best good of the punished, and thereby subserve the
great and important ends of the divine government, and be productive of
the restoration and felicity of all finite rational nature.
--Ethan Allen
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ethan_Allen>
Theodore II Laskaris (1221/1222–1258) was a Byzantine emperor who
ruled the Empire of Nicaea from 1254 until his death. Nicaea was a
successor state to the Byzantine Empire, after crusaders captured the
Byzantine capital, Constantinople, in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade.
Theodore began to write treatises on theological, historical and
philosophical themes in his youth. From around 1242, he was co-ruler
with his father, and his relationship with some prominent aristocrats
grew tense. Succeeding his father in 1254 Theodore replaced many
aristocratic officials and generals with loyalists, including some of
low birth. In 1256, he repelled a Bulgarian invasion of Thrace and
Macedonia and forced Epirus to cede Dyrrachium on the Adriatic Sea.
Epirus allied with Serbia and Sicily, and jointly invaded Nicaea in
1257; Nicaea's new generals could not resist the invasion. Theodore died
in 1258, leaving an underage son, John IV. Michael Palaiologos seized
the regency, and usurped the throne soon after.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_II_Laskaris>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1843:
Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, became the
de facto first prime minister of the Empire of Brazil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hon%C3%B3rio_Hermeto_Carneiro_Le%C3%A3o,_Marq…>
1968:
The Houston Cougars upset the UCLA Bruins in what became known
as the "Game of the Century", ending the Bruins' 47-game winning streak,
and establishing college basketball as a sports commodity on American
television.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_the_Century_%28college_basketball%29>
1969:
Bengali student activist Amanullah Asaduzzaman was shot and
killed by East Pakistani police, an event that led to the Bangladesh
Liberation War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanullah_Asaduzzaman>
2009:
During a national financial crisis, thousands of people
protested at the Icelandic parliament in Reykjavík.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Icelandic_financial_crisis_protests>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tropism:
1. (uncountable, biology) The turning of an organism (chiefly a plant)
or part of an organism either towards or away from a stimulus;
(countable) an instance of this.
2. (countable, by extension, chiefly virology) A capability or tendency
for a pathogen (chiefly a virus) to infect a type of cell, tissue,
organ, or host organism.
3. (countable, figurative) Of a person: an instinctive predilection or
tendency; also (generally), a liking, a preference.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tropism>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Remember we have the potential to make life better for others. In
our own small way, we can inspire, mentor, and encourage other women to
do great things. So, don’t hold back. Don’t be silent. Don’t give
in to fear. Be bold. Be adventurous. Be yourself. There will always be
people who want to tell you what you can do and what you can’t. What
is possible and what is not. I know because I have encountered those
people throughout my life. Some of them were well meaning. But all of
them wanted to limit my potential. Your potential is limitless. Your
life — the life you want — is worth fighting for. So, fight.
--Nikki Haley
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikki_Haley>
Homeworld is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic
Entertainment and published by Sierra Studios (co-founder pictured) in
1999 for Microsoft Windows. The science fiction game follows exiles on a
spacecraft-constructing mothership who aim to reclaim their ancient
homeworld, encountering pirates, mercenaries, traders, and rebels along
the way. The player's fleet carries over between levels, and can travel
in a fully three-dimensional space. Alex Garden of Relic served as the
game's director, and Luke Moloney was lead programmer. Metacritic lists
Homeworld as the highest rated computer game of 1999 and the third-
highest on any platform for the year, although critical opinions were
divided on its plot and high difficulty. The game sold over 500,000
copies in its first six months, and received several awards and
nominations for best strategy game of the year and best game of the
year. Gearbox Software purchased the game rights in 2013 and released a
remastered collection in 2015.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeworld>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1909:
A deed was recorded for David Hanbury to sell Island No. 2 in
northern California to his brother John for $10 ($326.00 in 2022).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_No._2>
1977:
Iva Toguri, convicted of treason for broadcasting Japanese
propaganda, was granted a full pardon by U.S. president Gerald Ford.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iva_Toguri_D%27Aquino>
1996:
A tank barge and a tug grounded on a beach in Rhode Island,
causing a spill of an estimated 828,000 U.S. gallons (3,130,000 L) of
home heating oil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Cape_oil_spill>
2006:
In the deadliest aviation accident in Slovak history, an
Antonov An-24 operated by the Slovak Air Force crashed in northern
Hungary, killing 42 of the 43 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Slovak_Air_Force_Antonov_An-24_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
odylic:
(pseudoscience, historical) Of or pertaining to the od or odyle (“a
hypothetical force or natural power, now proved not to exist, which was
supposed by Carl Reichenbach and others to inhere in certain people and
produce phenomena such as animal magnetism and mesmerism, and to be
developed by various agencies, as by chemical or vital action, heat,
light, magnets, etc.”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/odylic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Language forms a kind of wealth, which all can make use of at
once without causing any diminution of the store, and which thus admits
a complete community of enjoyment; for all, freely participating in the
general treasure, unconsciously aid in its preservation.
--August Comte
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/August_Comte>
Mark Baldwin (1863–1929) was an American right-handed professional
baseball pitcher who played seven seasons in Major League Baseball
(MLB). Born in Pittsburgh, Baldwin made his professional debut for a
Cumberland, Maryland, team in 1883. He made his MLB debut for the
Chicago White Stockings in 1887. Baldwin signed with the Columbus Solons
of the American Association in 1889, and led the league in innings
pitched (.mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output
.frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0
;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub
}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-
path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hi
dden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}513+2⁄3), losses (34),
strikeouts (368), and walks (274). In 1890, he played for the Chicago
Pirates of the Players' League and was the league leader in games played
as a pitcher (58), innings pitched (492), wins (33), strikeouts (206),
complete games (53), and walks (249). He later played for the Pittsburgh
Pirates and New York Giants, then went on to a career as a physician.
In 346 career MLB games, he pitched to a 154–165 win–loss record
with 295 complete games. Baldwin set the single-season MLB wild pitches
record with 83 that still stands today.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Baldwin_%28baseball%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1951:
Construction began of the United Nations Military Cemetery, the
only United Nations cemetery in the world, in Busan, South Korea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Memorial_Cemetery>
1956:
Navvab Safavi, an Iranian Shia cleric and the founder of the
fundamentalist group Fada'iyan-e Islam, was executed with three of his
followers for attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Hossein Ala'.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navvab_Safavi>
1969:
Thousands of Japanese police stormed the University of Tokyo
after six months of nationwide leftist university student protests and
occupation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968%E2%80%931969_Japanese_university_protests>
1983:
Thirty years after his death, the International Olympic
Committee presented commemorative medals to the family of American
athlete Jim Thorpe, who had been stripped of his gold medals for playing
semi-professional baseball before the 1912 Summer Olympics.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
spate:
1. (countable) A (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a
flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain
or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation.
2. (countable) A sudden heavy downpour of rain.
3. (countable, figurative) A sudden increase or rush of something; a
flood, an outburst, an outpouring.
4. (transitive) To (suddenly) flood or inundate (a river or other
watercourse) with water.
5. (intransitive) To (suddenly) rain heavily; to pour.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If one can only see things according to one's own belief system,
one is destined to become virtually deaf, dumb, and blind. It's only
possible to see people when one is able to see the world as others see
it. That's what guerrilla ontology is — breaking down this one-model
view and giving people a multi-model perspective.
--Robert Anton Wilson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson>
The music for three of the four operas written by the youthful composer
George Frideric Handel (pictured) between 1703 and 1706, when he lived
in the German city of Hamburg, is lost apart from a few orchestral
fragments. Only the first, Almira, has survived complete. He was able to
get Almira and the less successful Nero performed at Oper am
Gänsemarkt, the opera house, during the temporary absence of the
theatre's director, Reinhard Keiser. Handel's last two Hamburg operas,
Florindo and Daphne, were not produced before Handel left the city. No
music that can be definitively traced to Nero has been identified,
although some of it may have been used in later works, particularly
Agrippina, which has a similar plot and characters. Fragments of music
from Florindo and Daphne have been preserved without the vocal parts,
and some of these elements were incorporated into an orchestral suite
first recorded in 2012.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handel%27s_lost_Hamburg_operas>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1893:
Lorrin A. Thurston and the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety
led the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the government of Queen
Liliʻuokalani (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overthrow_of_the_Hawaiian_Kingdom>
1945:
World War II: Australian troops advanced along the northern
part of Bougainville Island (in present-day Papua New Guinea) and began
fighting Japanese forces in the Battle of Tsimba Ridge.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tsimba_Ridge>
1948:
Indonesian National Revolution: The Renville Agreement between
the Netherlands and Indonesian republicans was ratified, in an
ultimately unsuccessful attempt to resolve disputes arising from the
Linggadjati Agreement of 1946.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renville_Agreement>
1999:
In Little Saigon, California, a series of protests began when
the owner of a video rental store displayed an image of Ho Chi Minh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-Tek_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
venomous:
1. Of an animal (specifically a snake) or parts of its body: producing
venom (“a toxin intended for defensive or offensive use”) which is
usually injected into an enemy or prey by biting or stinging; hence, of
a bite or sting: injecting venom.
2. Of or pertaining to venom.
3. (archaic) Consisting of, or containing or full of, venom or some
other poison; hence, harmful to health due to this.
4. (figurative)
5. Posing a threat; dangerous, threatening.
6. Hateful; malignant; spiteful.
7. (obsolete)
8. Of a weapon such as an arrow or dart: dosed with venom or poison;
envenomed, poisoned.
9. (figurative) Harmful, hurtful, injurious; specifically, morally or
spiritually harmful; evil, noxious, pernicious.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/venomous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All Wars are Follies, very expensive & very mischievous ones.
When will Mankind be convinc’d of this, and agree to settle their
Differences by Arbitration? Were they to do it even by the Cast of a
Dye, it would be better than by Fighting & destroying each other.
--Benjamin Franklin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin>
Adamson Tannehill (1750–1820) was an American military officer,
politician, civic leader, and farmer. Born in Maryland, Tannehill was
among the first to join the Continental Army during the American
Revolutionary War, becoming commander of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle
Regiment. He then settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was
active in the state militia, rising to the rank of major general in
1811. He also served as a brigadier general of United States Volunteers
in the War of 1812. Tannehill held several local, state, and national
offices, including one term as a Democratic-Republican in the U.S. House
of Representatives from 1813 to 1815. He was president of the Pittsburgh
branch of the Bank of the United States from 1817 until his death. He
also served on the founding boards of several civic and state
organizations. Tannehill died in 1820 and was buried at his Grove Hill
home outside Pittsburgh. He was later reinterred in Allegheny Cemetery
(gravestone pictured).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamson_Tannehill>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
A pumping engine at a colliery in New Hartley, England, broke
and fell down the shaft, trapping miners below and resulting in 204
deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartley_Colliery_disaster>
1942:
World War II: During the Battle of Bataan, U.S. Army sergeant
Jose Calugas organized a squad of volunteers to man an artillery
position under heavy fire, which later earned him the Medal of Honor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Calugas>
1964:
The musical Hello, Dolly! opened at the St. James Theatre on
Broadway, and went on to win ten Tony Awards, a record that stood for 37
years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello,_Dolly!_%28musical%29>
2018:
In Mrauk U, Myanmar, police fired into a crowd protesting the
ban of an event to mark the anniversary of the end of the Kingdom of
Mrauk U, resulting in seven deaths and twelve injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrauk_U_riot>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
backstory:
1. The previous experiences and life of a person, specifically
(narratology, especially in film, television) a character in a dramatic
work.
2. (chiefly espionage, law enforcement) A fictitious account of a
person's history designed to conceal their actual history and motives.
[...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/backstory>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Human will can be effective only at the margin of events. Freedom
is not absolute either for individuals or for nations and much is
determined by forces beyond their control, by events of the past, by
accident, or by chance. At any given moment in time the margin of
freedom left them may seem so small as to make it hardly worthwhile to
exercise their will one way or the other. But the narrow margin of today
becomes the foundation of the broader possibility for tomorrow. Over
time the margin of freedom — the impact of will upon the possible —
expands geometrically. The decision of today makes possible, or
forecloses, ten decisions of tomorrow. The accumulated wisdom and
experience of the past do not always give unambiguous precedents for
decisions and actions at the relevant margin of freedom of the present.
A new integration of general purpose with the concrete possibilities of
the present may then become necessary. The most difficult issues of
foreign policy and ethics arise when changes in degree, at some point,
move so far as to become changes in kind, and dictate fundamental
departures from past policy and direction.
--Paul Nitze
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Nitze>
WWJ-TV (channel 62) is a television station broadcasting in Detroit,
Michigan, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS News and
Stations group, with studios in the suburb of Southfield. Channel 62 was
founded as WGPR-TV in 1975 by William V. Banks as the first Black-owned
television station in the continental United States. It produced its own
shows and helped launch the careers of Black television hosts and
executives such as Pat Harvey, Shaun Robinson, Sharon Dahlonega Bush,
and Amyre Makupson. In 1994, when a major affiliation switch threatened
to leave CBS without an affiliate station in Detroit, the network moved
to buy WGPR-TV and dropped the existing programming in favor of CBS and
syndicated programs, later changing the call letters to WWJ-TV. The
station's original studios (pictured) are listed on the National
Register of Historic Places and preserved as a museum that opened on
Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January 2017. A full news department
began operation in January 2023.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWJ-TV>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1934:
At least 10,700 people died when an earthquake registering
8.0 Mw struck Nepal and the Indian state of Bihar.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_Nepal%E2%80%93India_earthquake>
1974:
American serial killer Dennis Rader bound, tortured, and killed
his first four victims, earning him the nickname "BTK killer".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rader>
1991:
The Victoria Cross for Australia was instituted by letters
patent; the first Commonwealth realm with a separate Victoria Cross
award in its honours system.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross_for_Australia>
2009:
US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of Canada geese during
its climb out from New York City and made an emergency landing in the
Hudson River (featured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ooch:
1. (transitive)
2. (also reflexive) To move or slide (oneself or someone, or something)
by a small amount.
3. (also reflexive, figurative) To cause (oneself or someone, or
something) to change or progress by a small amount or in small
increments.
4. (figurative) To force (someone or something) to move without
noticeable disruption or opposition; to nudge.
5. (intransitive)
6. To move or slide by a small amount; to scooch, to scoot.
7. To move around in a restricted or small space; to squeeze, to squirm.
8. (figurative) To change or progress by a small amount or in small
increments; to nudge.
9. (figurative) To force to move without noticeable disruption or
opposition.
10. (sailing) To propel a boat or sailboard by rocking one's body back
and forth.
11. A small amount by which something has changed or moved.
12. (figurative) A small change or small amount of progress.
13. (sailing) An act of propelling a boat or sailboard forward by
rocking one's body. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ooch>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
God is not interested merely in freeing black men and brown men
and yellow men, but God is interested in freeing the whole human race.
We must work with determination to create a society, not where black men
are superior and other men are inferior and vice versa, but a society in
which all men will live together as brothers and respect the dignity and
worth of human personality.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.>
Fleetwood Park was a 19th-century American harness racing track in the
Bronx, New York City. The races were a popular form of entertainment,
drawing crowds as large as 10,000. The one-mile (1.6 km) course
described an unusual shape, with four turns in one direction and one in
the other. For the last five years of operation, Fleetwood was part of
trotting's Grand Circuit, one travel guide calling it "the most famous
trotting track in the country". The track operated under several
managements between 1870 and 1898, most notably the New York Driving
Club, consisting of many wealthy New York businessmen, including members
of the Vanderbilt and Rockefeller families as well as former US
president Ulysses S. Grant and Robert Bonner, owner of the New York
Ledger. Economic pressures forced the track to close in 1898, and
within two years the property was being subdivided into residential
building lots. The meandering route of modern 167th Street runs along a
portion of the old racecourse.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleetwood_Park_Racetrack>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
Sweden and Denmark–Norway signed the Treaty of Kiel, whereby
Frederick VI of Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in return for the
Swedish holdings in Pomerania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Kiel>
1969:
A major fire and series of explosions aboard the U.S. Navy
aircraft carrier USS Enterprise killed 28 sailors, injured 314 others,
and destroyed 15 aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_fire>
1970:
The self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria
surrendered to the federal government less than three years after
declaring independence, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Civil_War>
2018:
In the "Minneapolis Miracle", American football player Stefon
Diggs caught a 61-yard touchdown pass that secured the Minnesota
Vikings' victory in the National Football Conference divisional playoff
game.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis_Miracle>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
siglum:
1. A letter or other symbol that stands for a name or word;
specifically, one used in a modern literary work to refer to an early
version of a text.
2. (figurative) A thing which represents something else; a sign, a
symbol.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/siglum>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The awareness that we are all human beings together has become
lost in war and through politics. We have reached the point of regarding
each other only as members of a people either allied with us or against
us and our approach; prejudice, sympathy, or antipathy are all
conditioned on that. Now we must rediscover the fact that we — all
together — are human beings, and that we must strive to concede to
each other what moral capacity we have.
--Albert Schweitzer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer>
Carucage was a medieval English land tax based on the size of the
taxpayer's estate. It was levied six times: by Richard I in 1194 and
1198, John in 1200, and Henry III in 1217, 1220, and 1224. The taxable
value of an estate was initially assessed from the Domesday Book survey,
but other methods were later employed, such as valuations based on the
sworn testimony of neighbours or the number of plough-teams (example
depicted) the taxpayer used. Carucage never raised as much as other
taxes, but it helped fund the ransom for Richard's release in 1194, the
tax John paid to Philip II of France on land he inherited in that
country, and the cost of Henry III's military campaigns in England and
continental Europe. The tax was an attempt to secure new sources of
revenue when new demands were being made on royal finances. Unlike the
older danegeld tax, carucage was an experiment in revenue collection and
only levied for specific purposes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carucage>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1953:
Nine Moscow doctors were accused of a plot to poison members of
the Soviet political and military leadership.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27_plot>
1968:
American singer Johnny Cash recorded his landmark album At
Folsom Prison live at Folsom Prison in California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Folsom_Prison>
1972:
Ghanaian military officer Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a coup
to overthrow Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward
Akufo-Addo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_Kutu_Acheampong>
2000:
Steve Ballmer replaced Bill Gates as the chief executive
officer of Microsoft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ascendant:
1. Moving upward; ascending, rising.
2. (figurative) Controlling, dominant, surpassing.
3. (astronomy) Rising towards the zenith.
4. (astrology) In an eastern direction rising just above the horizon.
5. (botany, physiology) Of a part of an organism: synonym of ascending
(“leading or sloping upwards”)
6. (genealogy, archaic or obsolete) Synonym of ascending (“of or
pertaining to one's ancestors”)
7. (astrology, also figurative) The degree of the zodiac or point of the
ecliptic which rises in an eastern direction above the horizon at a
particular moment (especially the moment of a person's birth), which is
supposed to have a commanding influence on a person's fortune and life;
a horoscope.
8. (by extension)
9. Chiefly in in the ascendant: an act of ascending or rising.
10. (figurative) Synonym of ascendancy (“commanding influence; dominant
control; superiority, supremacy”)
11. (genealogy) An ancestor.
12. (obsolete)
13. A person who ascends or goes up; specifically (usually followed by
to), a person who ascends to a throne or assumes some other position of
power.
14. Something which is higher than the things around it; a peak, a
summit; specifically (typography), synonym of ascender (“the portion of
a lowercase letter that extends above the midline”)
15. Something which leads or slopes upwards, such as a flight of stairs
or an upward incline.
16. (rare) A person who supports a policy of ecclesiastical or national
supremacy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ascendant>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Don't judge a man by the tales of others.
--G. I. Gurdjieff
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/G._I._Gurdjieff>
SMS Prinz Adalbert was an armored cruiser built in the early 1900s for
the German Kaiserliche Marine, and was named after Prince Adalbert of
Prussia, the former commander-in-chief of the Prussian Navy. Her class
included a second ship, Friedrich Carl. Prinz Adalbert was built at the
Imperial Dockyard in Kiel. Her keel was laid in April 1900 and she was
commissioned on 12 January 1904. She served as a gunnery training ship
and made several visits to foreign countries. After the outbreak of
World War I in July 1914 she served in the Baltic Sea, and after her
sister ship was sunk in November 1914, she became the flagship of a
cruiser squadron in the Baltic, conducting operations against Russian
forces. She was torpedoed twice by British submarines in 1915. On the
second occasion she sank quickly with heavy loss of life; from a crew of
675 men, only 3 were rescued. This was the worst German naval disaster
in the Baltic during the war. (This article is part of a featured
topic: Armored cruisers of Germany.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Armored_cruisers_of…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1879:
Anglo-Zulu War: Natal Native Contingent and British troops
defeated Zulu forces in the Action at Sihayo's Kraal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_at_Sihayo%27s_Kraal>
1899:
During a storm, the crew of Lynmouth Lifeboat Station
transported their 10-ton lifeboat 15 mi (24 km) overland in order to
rescue a damaged schooner.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynmouth_Lifeboat_Station>
1969:
British rock band Led Zeppelin released their first album, Led
Zeppelin, in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin_%28album%29>
2007:
Comet McNaught reached perihelion, becoming the brightest comet
in over 40 years, with an apparent magnitude of −5.5.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_McNaught>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
psychrometry:
(meteorology, thermodynamics) Synonym of psychrometrics (“the
measurement or study of the physical and thermodynamic properties of the
atmosphere and its water vapour”)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/psychrometry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is in love that religion exists and not in ceremony, in the
pure and sincere love in the heart. Unless a man is pure in body and
mind, his coming into a temple and worshipping Shiva is useless. The
prayers of those that are pure in mind and body will be answered by
Shiva, and those that are impure and yet try to teach religion to others
will fail in the end. External worship is only a symbol of internal
worship; but internal worship and purity are the real things. Without
them, external worship would be of no avail.
--Swami Vivekananda
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda>
The rock parrot (Neophema petrophila) is a species of grass parrot
native to Australia. Described by John Gould in 1841, it is a small
parrot .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output
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path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hi
dden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}22 to 24 cm (8+3⁄4 to
9+1⁄2 in) long and weighing 50 to 60 g (1+3⁄4 to 2 oz) with
predominantly olive-brown upperparts and more yellowish underparts. Its
head is olive with light blue forecheeks and lores, and a dark blue
frontal band line across the crown with lighter blue above and below.
The sexes are similar in appearance, although the female tends to have a
duller frontal band and less blue on the face. The preferred habitats
are rocky islands and coastal dune areas from Lake Alexandrina in
southeastern South Australia westwards across coastal South and Western
Australia to Shark Bay. Unlike other grass parrots, it nests in burrows
or rocky crevices mostly on offshore islands such as Rottnest Island.
Seeds of grasses and succulent plants form the bulk of its diet. The
species is not threatened, but it has suffered in the face of feral
mammals.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_parrot>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1693:
The most powerful earthquake recorded in Italy, registering
7.4 Mw, struck the island of Sicily.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1693_Sicily_earthquake>
1914:
The Karluk, the flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition,
sank after being crushed by ice.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_voyage_of_the_Karluk>
1964:
In a landmark report (cover pictured), U.S. surgeon general
Luther Terry issued a warning that tobacco smoking may be hazardous to
health, concluding that it has a causative role in lung cancer, chronic
bronchitis, and other illnesses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_and_Health>
2003:
After Chicago police detective Jon Burge was discovered to have
forced confessions from more than 200 suspects, the governor of Illinois
commuted the death sentences of 167 prisoners and pardoned four others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ornery:
1. (originally and chiefly US, especially Appalachia, informal)
Disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with; cantankerous.
2. (Southern US, humorous, informal) Troublesome to deal with in a good
way; mischievous, prankish, teasing.
3. (obsolete) Ordinary, commonplace; hence, inferior, plain-looking,
unpleasant.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ornery>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Faith is something that comes out of the soul. It is not an
information that is absorbed but an attitude, existing prior to the
formulation of any creed.
--Abraham Joshua Heschel
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Joshua_Heschel>
The Firebird is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian
composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of
Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was
by Michel Fokine, who collaborated with Alexandre Benois and others on a
scenario based on the Russian fairy tales of the magical Firebird and
the blessing and curse it possesses for its owner. Set in the evil
immortal Koschei's castle, the ballet follows Prince Ivan, who battles
Koschei with the help of the Firebird. It was an immediate success,
catapulting Stravinsky to international fame and leading to future
collaborations between Diaghilev and Stravinsky, like Petrushka (1911)
and The Rite of Spring (1913). Other choreographers have reinterpreted
the music with new productions, settings and themes. Stravinsky's 1919
concert suite remains the most popular today. A film version with the
original choreography, featuring what is now the Royal Ballet, was
created in 1959.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Firebird>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1812:
New Orleans, the first steamship on the Mississippi River,
arrived at New Orleans to complete its maiden voyage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_%28steamboat%29>
1929:
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, the first volume of The
Adventures of Tintin by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé, began
serialisation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herg%C3%A9>
1993:
The Braer Storm, the strongest extratropical cyclone ever
recorded in the North Atlantic, reached peak intensity.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braer_Storm>
2004:
Helge Fossmo, the village priest of Knutby, Sweden,
orchestrated the murders of his wife and his neighbor, a crime that
shocked the country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knutby_murder>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
backfriend:
1. A friend who supports someone; a person who has someone's back; a
backer, a supporter.
2. Synonym of hangnail (“a loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding
from the side edge and anchored near the base of a fingernail or
toenail”)
3. (obsolete) A person who pretends to be someone's friend; a false
friend, a secret enemy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/backfriend>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He takes it in the naked ecstasy; it breaks in his hand, the atom
is broken, the power that massed it Cries to the power that moves the
stars, "I have come home to myself, behold me. I bruised myself in the
flint mortar and burnt me In the red shell, I tortured myself, I flew
forth, Stood naked of myself and broke me in fragments, And here am I
moving the stars that are me." I have seen these ways of God: I know of
no reason For fire and change and torture and the old returnings.
--Robinson Jeffers
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robinson_Jeffers>
Communication is usually understood to be the transmission of
information. Many models of communication describe it in terms of a
source using a coding system to express ideas in the form of a message.
The message is sent through a channel to a receiver who decodes it to
understand it. For verbal communication, the message is articulated in
linguistic form, including regular speech and writing. Nonverbal
communication, including body language, touch, and facial expressions,
does not rely on a linguistic system. The history of human communication
was shaped by the development of technologies such as writing, printing,
radio, and the internet. Communication also happens among animals and
plants, for example when birds sing to attract mates. Interspecies
communication occurs between distinct species, such as flowers using
distinctive colors to signal to bees where nectar is located. The main
discipline investigating communication is called communication studies.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1917:
First World War: Troops of the British Empire defeated Ottoman
forces at the Battle of Rafa on the Sinai–Palestine border in present-
day Rafah.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rafa>
1972:
The Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association
lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, ending a 33-game winning streak, the
longest in major American professional team sports.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Lakers>
1975:
In Central and Southeastern United States, a Great Storm formed
the first of forty-five tornados over a three-day period.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1975>
1992:
Radio astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced
the discovery of two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12
(depicted), considered to be the first definitive detection of
exoplanets.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoplanet>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
slightingly:
(archaic) In a slighting manner; belittlingly, contemptuously.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slightingly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We shall support vigorously the principle that no country has the
right to impose its will or rule on another by force. We shall
continue, in this era of negotiation, to work for the limitation of
nuclear arms, and to reduce the danger of confrontation between the
great powers. We shall do our share in defending peace and freedom in
the world. But we shall expect others to do their share. The time has
passed when America will make every other nation's conflict our own, or
make every other nation's future our responsibility, or presume to tell
the people of other nations how to manage their own affairs. Just as we
respect the right of each nation to determine its own future, we also
recognize the responsibility of each nation to secure its own future.
Just as America's role is indispensable in preserving the world's peace,
so is each nation's role indispensable in preserving its own peace.
Together with the rest of the world, let us resolve to move forward from
the beginnings we have made. Let us continue to bring down the walls of
hostility which have divided the world for too long, and to build in
their place bridges of understanding — so that despite profound
differences between systems of government, the people of the world can
be friends.
--Richard Nixon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon>
Shostakovich v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. is a landmark 1948 New
York Supreme Court decision. It was the first case in the United States
dealing with moral rights in authorship. The Soviet composers Dmitri
Shostakovich (pictured), Aram Khachaturian, Sergei Prokofiev, and
Nikolai Myaskovsky sued Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation for using
their compositions in the film The Iron Curtain. Although their
compositions were in the public domain in the United States, the
composers argued that the film violated their moral rights by using
their works in a manner contrary to their beliefs. The court rejected
the composers' argument, holding that there was no clear standard for
adjudicating moral rights and that moral rights conflict with free use
of public domain works. The decision has been criticized for
misunderstanding moral rights and praised for upholding the right of the
public to use public domain works over the rights of authors to censor
uses that they disagree with.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shostakovich_v._Twentieth_Century-Fox_Film_Co….>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1904:
Blackstone Library, the first branch of the Chicago Public
Library system, was dedicated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Library>
1977:
Three bombs attributed to Armenian nationalists exploded across
Moscow, killing seven people and injuring 37 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Moscow_bombings>
1981:
In Trans-en-Provence, France, a local farmer reported a UFO
sighting claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully
documented sighting of all time".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-en-Provence_case>
2011:
Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a public meeting held by U.S.
representative Gabby Giffords in Tucson, Arizona, killing six people and
injuring twelve others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tucson_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pendeloque:
(also attributive) A drop-shaped diamond or other gem used as a pendant;
also, a piece of jewellery in pendant form.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pendeloque>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The goal of a free nation is to reveal by example the enlightened
possibilities of the human race, not to wield its power of destruction
and death over the helpless, the poor, the starving and the war torn
masses. The goal of a free nation must be no different outside its
borders than within them. In America we do not massacre whole towns
because they may be the chosen domicile of a criminal or a conspiracy of
criminals. Instead we carefully root out the felons and bring them to
justice. In the same way, the goal of a free nation must be to first
view all people as members of the human race, and, as such, to insist
that they possess fundamental human rights. They are, as we, citizens of
the world. The rule of law shows us the way.
--Gerry Spence
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerry_Spence>
Daisy Bacon (1898–1986) was an American pulp fiction magazine editor
and writer, best known as the editor of Love Story Magazine from 1928 to
1947. She was hired in 1926 to assist with "Friends in Need", an advice
column in the magazine, by Street & Smith, a major pulp magazine
publisher. Two years later she was promoted to editor. Love Story was
one of the most successful pulp magazines, and Bacon was frequently
interviewed about her role and her opinions of modern romance. Street &
Smith gave Bacon other magazines to edit, including Ainslee's in the
mid-1930s and Pocket Love in the late 1930s. From 1940 to 1947 she took
over as editor of Romantic Range, which featured love stories set in the
American West, and in 1941 she was also given the editorship of
Detective Story. In late 1948 she became the editor of both The Shadow
and Doc Savage, but Street & Smith shut down all their pulps the
following April.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Bacon>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1904:
The Marconi International Marine Communication Company
specified CQD (audio featured) as the distress signal to be used by its
operators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQD>
1939:
French physicist Marguerite Perey identified francium, the last
element to be discovered in nature rather than by synthesis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francium>
1979:
The People's Army of Vietnam captured Phnom Penh, marking the
end of large-scale fighting in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian%E2%80%93Vietnamese_War>
2020:
After 253 days without an operational government, a second
round of investiture votes produced Spain's first coalition government
since the Second Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932020_Spanish_government_formation>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
shelve:
1. (transitive)
2. To furnish (a place) with shelves; especially, to furnish (a library,
etc.) with bookshelves.
3. To place (something) on a shelf; especially, to place or arrange
(books) on a bookshelf.
4. (figurative) To place (something) in a certain location, as if on a
shelf. [...]
5. (figurative) To set aside (something), as if on a shelf.
6. To postpone or put aside, or entirely cease dealing with (a matter
for discussion, a project, etc.).
7. (also reflexive) To remove (someone) from active service.
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To hang over or project like a shelf; to
overhang.
9. (transitive, Britain, dialectal) To tilt or tip (a cart) to discharge
its contents.
10. (intransitive)
11. Of land or a surface: to incline, to slope.
12. (obsolete) To be in an inclined or sloping position. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shelve>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Gods always behave like the people who make them.
--Zora Neale Hurston
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston>
A supernova is a powerful explosion of a star, usually a star that is
unable to produce sufficient energy from nuclear fusion to counteract
its own gravity. Its remnant will become a diffuse nebula, neutron star
or black hole. The peak optical luminosity of a supernova can be
comparable to that of an entire galaxy before fading over several weeks
or months. Supernovae occur in the Milky Way on average about three
times every century; the last one directly observed was Kepler's
Supernova (remnant pictured) in 1604. The most recent naked-eye
supernova from another galaxy was SN 1987A, the explosion of a blue
supergiant star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite of the Milky
Way. Supernovae can expel several solar masses of material at velocities
up to several percent of the speed of light. They are a major source of
cosmic rays, and also the chemical elements from oxygen to rubidium on
the periodic table. White dwarfs can also produce supernovae, if they
gain enough mass to trigger runaway fusion.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1724:
Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, a Bach cantata for Epiphany,
was first performed in Leipzig.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sie_werden_aus_Saba_alle_kommen,_BWV_65>
1912:
German geophysicist Alfred Wegener presented his theory of
continental drift, the precursor of plate tectonics.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift>
1953:
The inaugural Asian Socialist Conference, an organisation of
socialist political parties, opened in Rangoon with 177 delegates,
observers and fraternal guests.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Socialist_Conference>
2014:
The first episode of the documentary series Benefits Street
aired on Channel 4, prompting discussion in the United Kingdom about
welfare dependency.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefits_Street>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kitchendom:
(dated) The domain of the kitchen or people who work there.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kitchendom>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Those who stormed this Capitol and those who instigated and
incited and those who called on them to do so held a dagger at the
throat of America, at American democracy. They didn't come here out of
patriotism or principle. They came here in rage. Not in service of
America but rather in service of one man. Those who incited the mob, the
real plotters who are desperate to deny the certification of this
election, and defy the will of the voters. But their plot was foiled;
congressmen, Democrats, Republicans stayed. Senators, representatives,
staff, they finished their work the Constitution demanded. They honored
their oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and
domestic. Look folks, now it's up to all of us — to We the People
— to stand for the rule of law, to preserve the flame of democracy, to
keep the promise of America alive.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>